DustyBits

For anyone thinking of moving to Al Raha Gardens....beware. The compound mosques which have, up til now, been 'silent' are being fitted with speakers. They put them up on our one about 3 weeks ago. I spoke to Aldar management to check if they were just for Ramadan, but they said no, they're permanent.
So now at around 4am I've got DJ Imam doing his stuff about 50m from my bedroom. Lovely.

Dont get me wrong, I'm all for respecting the local culture, and I'm used to the prayer calls from 6 years in Kuwait, but when we signed the lease based on a certain real estate company specifically stating that all the mosques were silent.....well, no use moaning, we just wont be staying.

Oh, and added to that, our local neighbour has just installed a chicken coop, so now if the mosque doesn't wake us, the cockerel crowing does. The compound rules state that keeping of any livestock is prohibited. Complaint to management? Waste of time.

expat.brat

think of the cost and carbon savings you will reap from being able to get chicken from next door as opposed to schlepping to spinneys

weescot

RE chickens - threaten to complain to Abu Dhabi Municipality if ARG Management don't do anything. I am sure there are regulations that prohibit or restrict livestock being kept in built up areas and the Food Control Authority are on to stuff like this after bird flu and salmonela outbreaks. Worth a try. Sorry about the mosque speakers...

Jim Smith

Dont get me wrong, I'm all for respecting the local culture, and I'm used to the prayer calls from 6 years in Kuwait, but when we signed the lease based on a certain real estate company specifically stating that all the mosques were silent.....well, no use moaning, we just wont be staying.



I definitely wouldn't have believed anyone who said they were "silent" mosques!

Bad luck tho'

Patsy Stoned

I have a mosque 3 doors down from me and I can honestly say that I am hardly aware of it now.
Call to prayer is 04.30 ish and unless I am already up, on a work day, I sleep right through it and they do the whole prayer thing through the speakers too.
I guess it eventually fades to background noise.
See how bad it is Jim, if you like the place where you are, give it a month or 2, it may not be too bad.
:-)

I am in a very local area and quite a few of my neighbours keep chickens.........I had 1 sitting on my window sill a few months ago :-)

csdf

We have line of sight from our bedroom to a mosque minaret and I'm a light sleeper so get woken up at 4.15 every morning. But it's only a couple of minutes and I fall straight back to sleep again afterwards so I haven't really been that bothered by it. I quite like the remaining calls to prayer - reminds me of where I am and pulls me out of the "this place is like any other" rut that I sometimes fall into.

commander

I actually like the call to prayer..its mystical.

Reminds me sometimes of the theme tune to cornation street (don't know why)

when I lived at ARG 2 years ago, (when phase 1 was the only open part, by al raha school) they did say that these would be mosques.

If they had told us they would be silent, I would have laughed and not believed them for a second.

Roll with it, embrace it, you may draw comparisons to the theme tune of eastenders or something.

Re the chicken, its simple. Steal it and cook it. Or if you have seen the movie animal farm.....

csdf

It reminds me of Tarzan's jungle call from the old TV series!

littlejimmy

I like the CTP if the guy has a good voice and gives it some passion and embellishment, but it can sound pretty bad when the man has no talent and sounds like he's strangling a goat.

expat.brat

did you not think 'silent mosque' sounded like an oxymoron? like a 'humble dubaian?'

busybee2

never heard of "silent" mosques (considering they didnt built the sugar cubes for expats). when i lived in town the mosque speaker was right outside the window... you get used to it. and quite often you had two on the go, slightly at different starting times!